Photo: Nahteecirp · Public domainKnox has lower household incomes than 89% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Knox is better than 20% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (A−). Poverty touches 28.7% of residents (Indiana 12.3%). About one in five work in Knox itself; outside it, Plymouth draws the most (7%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Knox apart
Knox’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment holds Knox’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Knox could be anywhere from D to C+.
The daily trip from Knox: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Knox workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,119 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Indiana: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How a workday changes Knox
On a workday 1,243 residents head out to work, 368 work right here, and 1,893 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,300 people are in Knox on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Out of Knox to work: where people go
Where Knox clocks in
4% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Knox
2,261 jobs are based in Knox.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Knox, 2013 → 2023: 2,181 → 2,261. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Knox’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Knox to work
About 21% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Good to walk, short on transit: Knox
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,196 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 13.3% of Knox households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Knox’s commuters take a bus or train.
Knox next to U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,900: 3,620th of 4,474 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,618 | Gloverville SC | 2,505 | $52K | 15.6% | 8.3% | 1% | C− |
| 3,619 | Tilton IL | 2,537 | $56K | 17.3% | 5.9% | 6% | C− |
| 3,620 | Knox IN | 3,601 | $49K | 28.7% | 3.2% | 23% | C− |
| 3,621 | Colfax WA | 2,667 | $62K | 15.1% | 4.1% | 27% | C− |
| 3,622 | Chipley FL | 3,804 | $46K | 12.7% | 3.9% | 22% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,474 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Knox, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Knox: questions
What is the median household income in Knox?
$48,931 (±$8,491) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Knox?
28.7%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Knox?
32 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Knox work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Plymouth (7%, 16 mi), La Porte (4%, 23 mi), Winamac (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Knox walkable?
Knox is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Knox without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Knox, from the people who make the trip.
More of Knox
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.